HIST312: Capitalism and Democracy in America

Unit 11: The "Roaring" 1920s, Great Depression and World War IIThe Great Depression was a turning point in the relationship between
democracy and capitalism. The Roosevelt administration’s response to
the Great Depression was a series of programs known as The New Deal that
were aimed at curbing the business excesses that had characterized the
1920s and ensuring that all Americans had some basic level of social
security. Roosevelt’s successful prosecution of World War II burnished
his reputation as a great president, which consequently cemented the New
Deal’s place at the center of American economic and political ideology
for the next quarter century.

Unit 11 Time Advisory
This unit should take you 8 hours to complete.

☐ Subunit 11.1: 3 hours

☐ Subunit 11.2: 1 hour

☐ Subunit 11.3: 2 hours

☐ Subunit 11.4: 2 hours

Unit11 Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

Identify and define the term “Roaring Twenties.”

Identify specific critiques of American society, economics, and
politics during the 1920s.

Identify the causes of the Great Depression.

Identify and define the various aspects of the New Deal and the
relationship of these policies to changes in American politics and
economics

11.1.3 Criticism of the “Roaring Twenties:” The Great GatsbyNot everyone was pleased about the economic and political changes
taking place in the 1920s—some felt that the growth in consumer debt and
the introduction of labor-saving devices like the automobile signaled
the death of traditional American values, like hard-work and thrift.
Others deplored the rising numbers of people with self-made wealth (the
“nouveau riche”). F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsbyhas come to
be viewed as the seminal literary critique of American society in the
1920s; the book’s depiction of the listless, unhappy, and criminal lives
of America’s wealthy was a scathing indictment of the consequences of
America’s newfound wealth.

Instructions: Please read the entirety of the webpage in order to
get an overview of the plot and meaning of “The Great Gatsby.” You
can click on each of the links under the table of contents to move
through the plot summary and analysis. You may also choose to read
the work in its entirety, though this is not required for the
course.
About the link: This online text was developed by Sparknotes to
summarize, contextualize and analyze major literary works.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the webpage above.

11.2 The Great Depression
- Reading: Wikibooks’ US History: “Great Depression and New Deal”
Link: Wikibooks’ US History:“Great Depression and New
Deal”
(PDF)

Instructions: Please read the entirety of the entry to understand
the Great Depression and New Deal.
About the link: This online text was developed by Wikibooks as an
open educational resource for use in undergraduate history
courses.
Terms of Use: The WIkibooks article above is released under a
[Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License
3.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) (HTML). You
can find the original version of this article
[here](http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/US_History/Great_Depression_and_New_Deal)
(HTML).

Instructions: Please listen to Professor J. Bradford’s entire
55-minute lecture to get a sense of FDR’s various responses to the
Great Depression.
About the link: This website hosts free lectures from the nation’s
top universities in a wide array of academic subjects.
Terms of Use: The above video is reposted from the University of
California – Berkeley. The original version can be found
[here](http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/lecture-11-the-new-deal-1933/id354823242?i=80681408).
This video is released under a [Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported
License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

Instructions: Please listen to Professor Christina Romer’s entire
55-minute lecture to get a sense of lessons learned from the Great
Depression.

About the link: This website an entire series of lectures produced
by C-SPAN.

Terms of Use: The material above was produced by C-SPAN, with
permission granted for non-commercial use with no modifications to
the material. The original version can be found
here http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/284497-1.

11.4 World War II and “The Arsenal of Democracy”
- Reading: Wikibooks’ US History: “World War II and Rise of Atomic
Age"
Link: Wikibooks’ US History: “World War II and Rise of Atomic
Age”
(PDF)

Instructions: Please read the entirety of the website in order to
get a sense of World War II and the Atomic Age.

About the link: This online text was developed by Wikibooks as an
open educational resource for use in undergraduate history
courses.

Instructions: Please listen to Professor Julian Zelizer’s entire
40-minute lecture to get a sense of the relationship between the
expansion of the government during World War II, national security,
and individual liberty.

About the link: This website an entire series of lectures produced
by C-SPAN.

Terms of Use: The material above was produced by C-SPAN, with
permission granted for non-commercial use with no modifications to
the material. The original version can be found
here http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/291980-4.